Gone
by OutoftheShadow
Summary: Lucy leaves on a solo mission, and Natsu is left wondering why he's feeling so down.


A/N: This is not a one-shot I had planned. I got bored and starting typing. This is the result. I put Lucy and Natsu as the characters, as it revolves around the two, but Lucy will not make an appearance. This is, once again, a NaLu friendship one-shot.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, nor do I receive compensation for my attempts at writing.

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Natsu sat on the steps of Lucy apartment, thinking about his predicament.

Lucy was gone. She had left to do a job on her own and several weeks ago she had told Natsu, in no uncertain terms, that he was not to enter her apartment unless she let him in herself. He had promised, so he would abide by that.

The problem was, he hadn't really felt all that great since she had left. It had been three days, and Natsu could only seem to mop and sigh. He knew he was getting on everyone at Fairy Tail's nerves, but he couldn't help himself. It was most frustrating.

If only she hadn't made him promise to stay out, then he could slip in, hang out for a bit and get his bearings back. It didn't make a whole lot of sense, but he somehow knew it would work.

Natsu sighed loudly. He grit his teeth at the noise he involuntarily made. He was even driving himself nuts. Lucy wasn't due back until the next morning, so Natsu had to tough it out until then.

He would have gone on a job himself, but it just didn't feel right to go solo anymore. Gray and Ezra were on an assignment together, so even they couldn't help him. He probably wouldn't have done a good job anyway. Who would be scared of a depressed fire breather?

Natsu gave up trying to figure out how to get into Lucy's apartment without breaking his word, and decided to just go to Fairy Tail. He walked slowly so Happy, who was taking a cat nap on his shoulder, wouldn't wake up. It was a short walk, so he figured he would go the long way (around the entire town) to kill some time.

He wondered why it was that he couldn't seem to pull himself out of this funk. What was it about Lucy being gone - out of his sight - that was making him feel as if a black cloud was constantly hovering over his head?

By the time Natsu made it to Fairy Tail, the sun was starting to sink into the horizon. Natsu always loved watching sunsets. It was something Igneel had done with him. The colors reminded them both of flames, which they were fond of.

He missed Igneel so much. Sometimes, he had to stifle the urge to shed a few tears of frustration. Natsu had never taken joy in anyone else's pain, but when Gazille told him that his dragon had left on the same day, Natsu could have jumped and shouted in happiness.

The reason was, for as long as Igneel had been gone, Natsu had been terrified of what it meant. He wondered constantly if his dragon friend, the being who had raised him, had left because of something he did or said. Sometimes, he wondered if Igneel had just gotten tired of a human following him around all the time. However, if Gazille's dragon had left on the exact same day, then there was something else at work. It was more and less worrisome at the same time.

More so, because Igneel had possibly not had a choice in leaving. Maybe he wanted to come back to Natsu. It was less of a worry because now, Natsu knew that there was nothing he had done to chase his father figure, best friend and brother away.

Natsu stopped his thoughts and shook his head. His ponderings of Igneel always ran in circles, so it was pretty pointless to keep it up.

After watching the sun finally slip past the roofs of the houses and out of sight, Natsu hung his head and walked through the door of Fairy Tail. Mirajane was wiping glasses behind the bar. She stopped what she was doing, made Natsu a glass of his favorite juice and gave him a knowing smile. The dragon-slayer tried to smile back, but he knew it wasn't going to fool her.

"Still feeling down-in-the-dumps?" she asked, and grabbed another glass from under the counter. She filled it half full with rice wine and sipped on it while she waited for Natsu to answer.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm mostly just bored, I think. All my nakama are off on missions, and I'm stuck here waiting on them to get back."

"That's true, but Gray and Ezra just left this morning. You've been dragging yourself around here like your best friend died for a few days now."

Natsu could only nod and sip his juice.

Just then, Happy yawned and opened his sleep addled eyes. Natsu gave another weak smile when Happy jumped from his shoulder onto the bar.

"Couldn't figure out how to get past your promise?" he asked.

Natsu rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Well," said Happy as he took the fish Mirajane had just given him. "She'll be back tomorrow. Then you can stop being so sad."

"Whatever," he grumbled, burying his face into his arms which were folded on the wooden bar.

"I don't understand, Natsu," Mira said. "What is it about Lucy, specifically, being gone that has you so blue?"

"I don't know!" he moaned, not bothering to lift his head. "I just don't like her being away from me. I don't like not knowing if she's okay, or even where she is for that matter. It's just like…"

Natsu paused, startling himself with his epiphany. His head and body snapped to attention.

"What is it, Natsu? It's just like what?" asked Mirajane. Her voice was full of concern.

Natsu began quietly and slowly, as if explaining it to himself and his friends at the same time. Mirajane and Happy didn't rush him.

"When any of my other friends leave, they always tell me where they're going, how long they'll be gone and what kind of mission they're going on. That's what Gray and Ezra did before they left this morning. They know that I like to know stuff like that. They've known me long enough to know that it makes me nervous if I'm not WELL informed.

"But when Lucy left, all she did was leave me a note here, saying that she was going on a solo mission and that she would be back in three days. That was it. She didn't say where she was going or what kind of job it was. She just left."

And that was it, wasn't it? She had just left; it was as simple as that. No wonder he had been thinking about Igneel non-stop for the past few days.

No, it wasn't the same. She had at least left him a note telling him vaguely what she was up to and when she would be back, but it was close enough. If Lucy hadn't left him a note, he wondered how much worse this depression would have been.

The desperation to get into her apartment made sense now, too. Without being able to go inside, Natsu couldn't tell if her things were still there. If he were to go in, then he would be able to reassure himself that Lucy was coming back. Natsu knew better than most how much she loved her clothes. She would never leave for good without every scrap of fabric and animal skin she owned.

Natsu looked up at Mirajane who was giving him a soft, understanding look.

"Well, when she gets back, explain it to her. I'm sure she would understand."

Natsu nodded and gave a weary sigh. God, but he was so tired of sighing! He laid his head back onto his folded arms and listened to Mira finish cleaning up.

The pale light of dawn was shining through the windows when Natsu finally opened his eyes. It took him a moment to realize where he was and why his was there. He looked around frantically after remembering what had happened in the last few days, not to mention what it meant that it was the morning of the third day since Lucy had left town.

After wasting a few seconds whipping his head about, Natsu resigned himself to the fact that the stellar spirit mage wasn't in yet. He hopped across the bar and made himself a cup of coffee. Mirajane wouldn't be in this early, so everyone knew it was self service until lunch.

It seemed as if he had sat there forever (although he knew it was minutes and not hours) when the Old Man, and leader of Fairy Tail, hopped up on the bar beside Natsu.

"I talked to Mirajane before she left last night. She told me what you and she talked about. I hope you don't mind if I butt in a little bit."

Natsu hunched over the coffee cup clutched in his hands and shrugged.

"When you first came here, I had a hard time getting you to socialize with the others. It seemed as if you were afraid of getting close to anyone. It wasn't until you and Gray started your rivalry that you started making friends.

"Now, you're surrounded by nakama. It makes me happy to see all of my Fairies being as good as family to each other. For a lot of you, this place is your only home; these people are your only family. You, Gray, Ezra and even Lucy to a certain extent, are all each other have in this world."

Natsu, who was getting uncomfortable with the conversation, frowned. "What are you getting at, Old Man?"

Makarov was quiet for a moment and then nodded.

"Just remember, that if one of us ever does have to leave you, any of us, it will be because we have no choice in the matter. None of us, not one, would ever leave you voluntarily."

Natsu said nothing, choosing to stay silent rather than try to talk around the lump that had mysteriously formed in his throat. Makarov pat him firmly on the back and hopped down off the bar.

"By the way," he said as he walked away. "I passed Lucy on my way in. She said she was on her way home."

Makarov smiled as he watched Natsu scramble off the bar stool, upsetting Happy who had been sitting on his shoulder. He mowed down several people in his rush to get out of Fairy Tail and towards one of his very precious nakama.

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A/N: So, there it is. The one-shot I pulled out of no where. I hoped you guys liked it. PLEASE leave me a review and let me know if I should continue with these little pieces. The last I looked, I had close to fifty hits on my last one-shot, and not one review. :sigh: It's very depressing. Thank you for reading.


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